Kiernan Huntly has been sent to boarding school for unknown reasons, a girl that lives high above the world in a tower of her minds creation; surrounded by thorns. Waiting for someone crazy enough to rescue her.

Kiernan kept her
eyes low as she sat across from Nat at breakfast. She knew that if
she caught sight of Gram then she would break her resolve and throw
herself at him, heedless of the consequences.

"Earth to
Kiernan!" Nat's amused voice broke into her thoughts, and
Kiernan turned to her.

"Sorry..
what?" she asked, distracted.

"I
understand that a certain dark haired, mysterious boy is now in your
life.. But that so does not give you the right to ignore your
friends!" Nat exclaimed, and Kiernan chuckled. It was far from
the truth.

"He's not"
she whispered, as her tower shot up high in the sky, and the sun came
out, shining in patches of honey-gold.

"He's not?
..I'm not understanding" Nat replied through a mouthful of
muesli.

"He's not
in my life" Kiernan explained firmly. Birds sang, flowers burst
open, and Kiernan wore the most beautiful of her gowns, high in her
tower. The trouble had passed, her world was safe.

"Does he
know that?" she asked, and Kiernan was about to respond, but
realised that Nat wasn't looking for an answer. She followed Nat's
gaze to where Gram sat, stock still; staring at her.

"I'm sorry,
I-I have to go" Kiernan muttered, leaving her breakfast
untouched and walking hastily out of the dining room.

As Kiernan left
the dining room, she felt a hand grab onto her arm. She turned, not
meeting the dark eyes that shone bright through her tower world and
sent her stumbling away from the window with a hand shielding her
eyes.

Kiernan looked
at the ground. What had she done to earn this unwanted attention?
What did he want with her?

"Let me go"
she hissed at him, not wanting to cause a scene in the dining room.

"What is it
Kiernan? What's changed?" Gram questioned. His grip softened on
her arm, and she pulled it back as though she had been stung.

Winds whipped
angrily in the borderlands, and the nesting tropical birds cawed in
terror.

"I can't
Gram.. I can't" Kiernan muttered, whirling away from him and
running out the door and into the corridor. Kiernan hurried blindly
through the halls, needing to get back to the room that she and the
other girls shared.

She felt the
tears course raggedly down her cheeks, as they tore from the sky,
landing in violent crashes against the usually tranquil towerland.
The sky ripped open, and Kiernan stood at the window, not caring that
she was getting wet.

"Kiernan?
Kiernan! What is it? What's the matter?" Helaina stood before
her, and Kiernan fell onto her bed in a flood of tears.

"Gram! What
are you doing?" Helaina yelled, causing a few of the other girls
to come running into the room from the corridor.

"Kiernan..
What is it? Tell me.." Gram implored, and Kiernan curled up into
a ball, facing the wall.

"Get out
Gram" a voice quiet yet determined, from the door, and Kiernan
opened an eye, she recognised the voice as Mack's and realised that
Nat must have gone and got him.

"I just
want to talk to her" Gram spoke; quieter now.

"Just leave
her be Gram" Nat advised as Mack ushered him out the door.
Kiernan rolled over and found herself eye to eye with Nat.

"Are you
ok?" Nat asked softly, and Kiernan nodded. She was fine, Gram
was dangerous, dangerous to all that she held dear. She knew that
should she pursue anything with Gram then she was signing the death
warrant for her tower.

Kiernan nodded,
as big cats pawed the earth menacingly, and fire rained from the sky.
She had come close that time and she knew that there was no way she
could risk seeing Gram again without extensive damage to her tower.

But Kiernan
couldn't lie to herself, she also knew that there was nothing more
than she wanted than to ask Gram to hold her and never let go.

The night when
Ryan watched Kiernan jump from the bridge had been an unseasonably
cold one. As though winter were reaching out for one last assault on
the people of the earth. She could remember faces. The tight; drawn,
worried faces of the ambulance officers. She remembered Ryan riding
alongside of her, holding her hand and telling her that it was ok,
she'd be ok. She had just tried to keep breathing. The hospital had
been a starched white bed of disapproval, with the mark for attempted
suicide scrawled in red texta on her chart. She was watched night and
day, had counselling in the mornings, and was given plastic cutlery
to eat her food with which was taken straight back when she had
finished. She couldn't understand why they thought she was trying to
commit suicide; knowing herself that it had been nothing more than an
attempt to try and silence the voices in her head. She had been in
there for a week when they said she could go home. Everyone had been
thrilled, especially Sammy. She still couldn't understand why.

The next day in
English, Kiernan sat down beside Nat, not wanting to give Gram the
chance to sit next to her. She knew that she had been very hard on
him, and she couldn't blame him for wanting to know what was wrong,
But how could she explain that he was the problem.

It shouldn't be
this complicated.. she thought to herself, She wasn't involved with
him, had spent at most only a few hours in his company, and most of
that time was spent kissing him.

Kiernan shook
her head to clear it, not wanting to remember how good kissing Gram
had felt.

Kiernan gasped
softly as a piece of scrunched up notebook paper was dropped on her
and Nat's desk, and looked up to see Gram walking back to his seat.

"Throw it
in the bin please" she asked quietly, and Nat nodded, walking
over to the bin and throwing a piece of paper into the bin, tucking
the note carefully into her folder.

The teacher
walked in, and soon they were reading through Romeo and Juliet, and
everyone's attention was elsewhere.

Kiernan took the
chance to retreat into her tower and rest, she gazed out at the
thorns, and noticed with satisfaction that they were thicker than she
had ever seen them.

"Kiernan"

"Kiernan"

Kiernan felt a
jab in her side, and she looked up.

"Sorry,
what?"

The teacher
rolled her eyes, and smiled condescendingly.

"I was
wondering if you would be so kind as to read Juliet for awhile"
she told her, and Kiernan nodded stiffly, opening her book to the
same page as Nat's.

"Gram,
could you read Romeo please?" she asked, more a demand than a
request.

Gram grunted and
Kiernan ignored it as she studied her page.

"I'm
drawn to her, I like her. I know that she's afraid.. that she's
scared that in being with me she'll lose herself, but she doesn't see
what we could be, how good we are for each other. I'm afraid that
I'll never feel this way again, and though I've only known her days
few, I'm surer of this than I've ever been of anything" Gram
finished his speech, and the teacher stared at him in mild shock.

"That was
lovely Gram, not a word of what the book says.. but lovely" she
told him, amongst the snickers of the boys and the sighs of the
girls.

Kiernan felt her
stomach contract, not quite able to believe that Gram had just said
what he had.

The bell rang,
and Kiernan left the room followed closely behind by Nat.

Gram caught up
with them, and Nat stopped for a moment, rifling through her bag.

Kiernan looked
desperately at Nat, who just winked at her.

"Meet me,
after last class.. under the stands.." he begged, and although
Kiernan's mind screamed at her not to, she nodded

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